Mum's Trifle

04 December 2009

It's a simple dessert, but one filled with comfort and joy. My mum adds a good glug of sherry to her cake base, but I have left that out. Although I love it, Graham is not so keen, but the choice is yours. The jelly really moistens up the cake, so you don't need to add any extra liquid, although saying that, a good boozy trifle can go down a treat.

I'm not going to lay this out as a traditional recipe, this is more of a case of layering and you can't go wrong. If you want more custard and less cream, just adjust it to suit yourself. It's all about plunging your spoon through the layers and the taste sensation as your taste buds tingle.

Mum's Trifle

1. Start off with a nice large bowl, a clear one is good so you can see all the lovely layers.

2. Your first layer is sponge. You have a choice here. I used a few slices of my Jaffa Drizzle Sponge Cake, without the chocolate drizzle. I sometime use a Madeira cake. Homemade cake is a good choice, but bought cake works just as well.

3. Fruit next. I used blackberries and clementines in my trifle. Unfortunately the clementines I had were a bit bitter, so I used tinned clementines in fruit juice, instead of fresh. Fresh berries such as strawberries and raspberries are lovely in a trifle, again you choose.

4. Now we add the jelly. Jelly can be a problem for vegetarians, but there are alternatives out there. I used a sachet of Hartley's Quickset Raspberry Jelly, which uses pectin instead of gelatin. It's easy to use, just follow the packet instructions. Don't be alarmed when it doesn't set as firm as regular jelly, this is normal. Leave the jelly to cool slightly before pouring over the sponge and fruit. Leave to cool and set in the fridge.

5. Now for the custard. If you can find a good fresh custard to buy, then why not save some time, but if you have some time to potter about in the kitchen and want a more deluxe trifle, then make your own. You can find my recipe for fresh custard here. It is the custard recipe I use when I make ice cream and it is filled with lovely specks of black from fresh vanilla. I would leave out the cinnamon for this dish however.

6. Our last layer is cream. I whipped double cream with a little sugar until it was lovely and thick and then spread it across the top of the custard.

7. Decoration. I sprinkled my trifle with chocolate flakes, but many of you will remember childhood trifle sprinkled with hundreds and thousands, those colourful little sugar sprinkles. It depends how nostalgic you are feeling. A dusting of cocoa powder is rather nice too.

That looks ridiculously good! Brings out the big child in you. I haven't had jelly for a long long time, due to the gelatine content, until I came across an vegetarian friendly alternative, but was not aware of the one you recommended. Thanks for sharing.

Trifle is one of my most favourite puddings to eat - though I never bother making it - a family friend makes the best one and knows when she is invited over, the invite includes her trifle! I love how traditional it is, swiss roll, strawberry jelly, custard and cream, simply delicious! :)

Yours looks lovely btw, am glad to see you are using your mums recipes, I don't think I could subject mums cookery to my following!!

trifle is a nostalgic indulgence for me - I have never tried vegetarian jellies but have seen them every now and then - I think I have seen some in Indian grocers - I agree that a see through bowl is essential because they look so beautiful as you demonstrate so well

I love reading comments, so thank you for taking the time to leave one. Unfortunately, I'm bombarded with spam, so I've turned on comment moderation. I'll publish your comments as soon as I can and respond to them. Don't panic, they will disappear when you hit publish. Jac x